Siaya MCAs on Wednesday made their case against impeached Deputy Governor William Oduol as they sought to portray him as extravagant, a bully and a public inciter.
Oduol faces charges of gross violation of the constitution and other law; and abuse of office and gross misconduct.
The deputy governor has denied all the charges levelled against him by the ward reps and dismissed the impeachment case as ill-informed and unfair.
In their submission to the Senate’s impeachment committee, the MCAs, through a team of three lawyers, alleged that Oduol pushed the county government to spend Sh18 million for his comfort, including renovating and equipping his office, outside the budget.
“This was in contravention of section 53(2) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act. The action of the deputy governor of facing unbudgeted for expenditure contravened the canons of procurement requirement,” the MCAs said in the charges.
While urging the 11-member panel to uphold the impeachment, they alleged that Oduol caused the taxpayers to fork out Sh1.12 million for a chair and Sh1 million for a table for his office.
On Wednesday, the MCAs sought to present three chairs – one of them valued at Sh1.12 million and two others costing at least Sh500,000 each, but the committee chairperson overruled them.
“Cut them young. Do not allow a monster to grow. When you realise that a tree is bending, you cut it while still young,” the MCAs said through lawyer Willis Otieno.
The Senate impeachment committee was chaired by Elgeyo Marakwet Senator William Kisang.
Oduol, who has been in office for barely 10 months, has also been accused of forcing the county to spend about Sh2 million to soundproof his office at the county headquarters in Siaya Town.
The ward reps claimed Oduol is a bully who threatened, intimated and coerced county officials in the procurement and finance departments to dance to his tune.
“The county had spent Sh18 million of the taxpayers monies for the personal comfort of an individual. We will demonstrate that Sh18 million constitute 20 per cent of the county’s bursary allocation,” lawyer Otieno said.
Otieno claimed that Oduol interfered with the procurement process of seeds and fertilisers, which violated the Constitution and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act.
They accused him of bullying and forcing the procurement officers to change the specification of tender by allowing all groups to bid for the tender.
In particular, the MCAs alleged that Oduol used his office to coerce county officers to change certain specifications on 86 tender documents for road construction.
“The deputy governor coerced the head of county procurement unit to give him raw evaluation report for the tender on supply and delivery of certified seeds and fertiliser, together with unsigned professional opinion,” the charges state.
The county had reserved the tender for marginalised and vulnerable groups which include youth, women and persons with disabilities.
“The end result is that the procurement process collapsed as the officers were being intimidated and harassed,” the lawyer said.
For the officers who defied his call, he threatened them with harsh working environment in the future, they claimed. He, particularly, took on acting finance chief officer Jack Odinga, they said.
The MCAs accused the deputy governor of misleading the public and inciting communities in the county.
“The deputy governor misled members of the public that funds allocated towards completion of Siaya stadium had been reallocated,” they said.
On Wednesday, Yimbo East MCA Francis Otiato, who was the first witness for the assembly, implored the panel to confirm the charges. Otiato chaired the special committee that investigated Oduol’s ouster at the county assembly.
He said his committee investigated and confirmed the allegations that had been documented in the motion filed by East Asembo MCA Gordon Onguru.
However, Oduol’s lawyer Paul Nyamodi poked holes in Otiato’s submission and questioned why Onguru, the motion mover, did not appear before his panel to lay his case.
In his opening remarks earlier in the day, Oduol claimed he had been targeted for removal for challenging the deep-rooted financial malpractice in the county executive.
“I’m targeted because I'm against malpractices. I have become the proverbial hunter who has become the hunted,” he said.
According to the deputy governor, Siaya has become sick through alleged siphoning of public funds, and vowed to stay to the cause to free the county executive.
“I'm prepared to pay the ultimate price to defend your freedom. I promise to never let cartels and their mandarins eat your money," he said.
Nyamodi persuaded the Senate team to throw out the case on grounds it does not meet the threshold.
“We urge the Senate to bear in mind the threshold for impeachment. None of the charges passed the threshold of impeachment as they are hollow allegations,” the lawyer said.